I first saw a booklet termed Beyond Recovery about eight weeks ago- it is a collection of articles and artwork that has been created by people who have attended mental health services in the Wirral (including the pic here). It offers insights into the thoughts and feeling of the contributors in a handy A5 sized booklet that I found a very good read. All the work in the booklet is anonymous but the foreword of the piece talked of the editorial board and a bit about the journey that they have taken to bring the booklet( the second issue) together. Also about were to get in touch if you had any feedback. It gained my curiosity so I did just that and followed the link to a beyondrecoveryblog.wordpress.com/website that they have that collects the same articles and more. I also note that they had been interviewed recently on local radio so had a chance to listen to an audioboom.com/posts/5986659-episode-20-beyond-recoveryinterview with some of those involved putting some extra depth to the story. They came across as a very unassuming bunch of fellas, good friends in fact.
I had the good fortune to meet two of this team shortly after at the Mental Health Consortiums monthly www.liverpoolmentalhealth.org/service-user-group/meet-up for service users and carers. In person two of the four man team, Edward and Mark presented just as I had expected-thoughtful, modest and very polite. They had a tale to tell that began six years ago; to me it showed a grit and determination to still be following the project for so long as well as a quietly growing sense of the pride in what they had achieved. This includes fundraising, liaising with local people at the mental health services and co-ordinating a project that brought people together to get creative. They told how the feedback had been received from outside of the area, and they had visited other places, Birmingham for instance to speak on the project.
I’ve met and listened to a number of people in recent years who talk about describing their route around the mental health system. I have even been thrust into the limelight at times myself, on local radio, at platforms of one sort of another. In my current fragile state it seems like a world away and I actually find hearing others accounting on their own journeys throws up all kind of strong emotions. In the account from Ed and Mark they talked of how people had dropped out at times and that the core group remaining and with a view to the future is founded on the most magic ingredient of all -friendship. It’s touched on again and again in the short articles that appear in the booklets, what are you waiting for!